Crowley died on December 1, 1947; and in accord with his wishes Karl Germer became O.H.O. of O.T.O., serving from late 1947 until his death in 1962. Agapé Lodge continued in Southern California until 1949, after which the Lodge ceased to hold regular meetings. The records of Agapé Lodge, consisting of minutes of meetings, annotated copies of rituals, lists of members initiated to various degrees in O.T.O., correspondence, and financial records, were conserved by Jane Wolfe and various members of the Lodge.

    Following Crowley's death, his will was probated and the executors began receiving his property for shipment to Germer. Germer received most of the materials from Crowley's estate and eventually took them with him to his final home at Westpoint in Calaveras County, California.

    Germer was a quiet and reclusive man, and primarily interested in publishing Crowley's writings. Several O.T.O. members helped him with this, but, aside from promotion of those already initiated, no new initiations were given. Germer notified McMurtry and others that O.T.O. was to be incorporated and governed by a triumvirate of officers, but this incorporation was never accomplished under Germer's headship of O.T.O. Germer did charter an O.T.O. Camp in England under Kenneth Grant, a III° member; but closed the Camp and expelled Grant from O.T.O. membership on July 20, 1955 when he learned that Grant had become associated with Grosche's Fraternitas Saturni, had circulated a manifesto for the a new Lodge of O.T.O. under the joint authority of Germer and Grosche, and had begun to modify the O.T.O. rituals, all without notice to Germer.

    Germer also took an interest in the efforts of Hermann Metzger (Paragranus, 1919-1990) in Switzerland. Metzger was a student of a surviving member of Reuss's Swiss section of the O.T.O. named Felix Lazerus Pinkus (1881-1947), but had no original connection with Crowley's O.T.O. Germer appointed Mellinger to supervise Metzger's regularization into Crowley's O.T.O., but Germer and Metzger fell into disagreement toward the end of Germer's life. Frederic Mellinger wrote after Germer's death that Metzger had failed to satisfy the program of instruction set forth for Metzger by Germer under Mellinger's tutelage. According to one source, Metzger claimed to have chartered Gabriel Montenegro as X° for the United States. However, Montenegro never claimed any such authority, and never even mentioned any O.T.O. appointment from Metzger to his O.T.O. colleagues in the U.S.

    O.T.O. members in California actively sought to influence Germer to reopen public access to O.T.O. Concern was expressed in correspondence that a failure to initiate new O.T.O. members would result in the ultimate demise of O.T.O. In 1959, McMurtry had called a meeting in Los Angeles, to which members of Agapé Lodge and others were invited, with the purpose of attempting to create a unified front to pressure Karl Germer into resuming OTO initiations. McMurtry was ready to invoke his authorizations from Crowley in support of this idea. Dr. Montenegro opposed the idea, and the others failed to lend any support; the idea was abandoned. Montenegro wrote to McMurtry on Nov. 21, 1960 to memorialize his opposition to the idea.

    Germer authorized McMurtry to form a nucleus of new O.T.O. public access, but Germer and McMurtry had a falling out over a personal loan and other matters. Whatever differences they may have had, there is not the slightest suggestion that Germer even considered vetoing or revising McMurtry's charters from Crowley. McMurtry lost his job in California due to health problems and moved to Washington, D.C. in March of 1961. Here he taught Political Science at George Washington University while working as a Management Analyst for the U.S. Government. He also directed the Washington Shakespeare Society.

Interregnum

Germer died on October 25, 1962 without having designated a successor. Germer's last will and testament named his wife Sascha and Frederick Mellinger the executors of his estate in the matter of property held for O.T.O. Sascha was an elderly lady of less than sound mind, and cut herself off from the surviving members of O.T.O. in California. Germer's estate was never probated. Some ranking members, including Grady McMurtry, were not notified of Germer's death for several years, causing a long delay before the question of succession to leadership of O.T.O. was properly addressed

    Metzger in Switzerland published a claim to being the Outer Head of the Order, based on a private election represented to have been held in Switzerland on January 6, 1963. Ranking members of O.T.O. outside of Switzerland, including Frederick Mellinger, whom Germer had appointed as Metzger's mentor, were not informed of Metzger's purported election until after the alleged fact. A copy of Metzger's manifesto was sent to Wilfred Smith, who had been dead since 1957. Metzger was not generally accepted as head of the Order outside his own group. Sascha made a half-hearted attempt to send Germer's O.T.O. property material to Metzger, but this was blocked by Mellinger in a letter dated Sept. 25, 1963 which denounced Metzger as a fraud. Metzger later incorporated his system of O.T.O. as part of a new organization of his own formulation, the "Ordo Illuminatorum," which purported to be a revival of the order of the Illuminati. Metzger died in 1990.

    Kenneth Grant (b. 1924) also asserted a claim to being Outer Head of the Order; but he had previously been expelled from membership by Germer. Mr. Grant disputes his expulsion, claiming that he never recognized Karl Germer as head of O.T.O. However, Grant's own writings from the 1950's, in particular the manifesto of New Isis Lodge, refer to Frater S (Saturnus, i.e. Karl Germer) as the international head of O.T.O. Grant's organization asserts that O.T.O. had ceased to be a membership organization in its traditional sense of having Lodges and conferring degrees ceremonially. Grant's organization also ignores the Gnostic Mass, which is, according to Crowley, "the central ceremony of [O.T.O.'s] public and private celebration."

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